On 16 Sep 2025, we saw the publication of a proposal to amend various statutes, including the Personal Income Tax (PIT) Act and the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Act, in an effort to provide a tighter tax system that promotes the tax justice principle derived from Article 84 of the Polish Constitution.
The proposal seeks to refine various tax regulations, prominent among which are transfer pricing regulations, including the application of safe harbour rules for loans.
The proposed changes will affect both the CIT Act (Article 11g(1)(1)) and the PIT Act (Article 23s(1)(1)).
The new law will provide that safe harbour is available only for variable interest rate loans, being ones that charge a base rate plus margin.
The safe harbour mechanism will continue to apply under the condition that the loan terms are consistent with the applicable base rate and margin rate, both as published by the minister for public finance and in effect on the date of the loan contract.
In addition, the new law proposes a requirement that, for a loan to qualify for safe harbour, its interest rate must be updated at least every three months.
As noted in the explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed legislation, the variable interest rate requirement is intended to make sure that loan interest resets automatically to follow market conditions. This, in turn, would limit the risk of abuse or of the safe harbour mechanism being used for improper purposes.
The new law would apply to controlled transactions carried out in any tax years beginning after 31 December 2025.
The draft is undergoing intra-cabinet consultations.
Previously, the safe harbour regulations were unclear as far as loans were concerned, generating a risk of application errors. The new law now clarifies that the regulations do not apply to fixed rate loans, thus removing previous doubts and increasing certainty for taxpayers.
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